


Thankful

by TheMikeWheelers (jasongracefully)



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-25
Updated: 2017-11-25
Packaged: 2019-02-06 12:54:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12817959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jasongracefully/pseuds/TheMikeWheelers
Summary: "From the moment he met El it was like all the pieces in his life started to fall into place. Even if the world around him was in chaos, the idea of returning to normalcy seemed like the most abnormal thing possible if it meant El wasn't a part of it.".It's Thanksgiving 1984, and the kids all go to a corn maze.





	Thankful

**Thanksgiving 1984**

Mike wanted to kick himself. He'd spend all those countless hours studying the map, and for what? He had gotten lost in that stupid corn maze anyway. 

He'd been so determined to win the contest. Him and El, versus Max and Lucas, versus Will and Dustin. Whoever won, the others would chip in and pay for the winners at the arcade for a month. It had taken Mike a week just to convince Hopper to let El leave the cabin to begin with. He had to assure Hopper that they'd get there early in the morning before any other people came, and if something happened they could just run and get lost in the maze. Reluctantly, after tons of begging from all the kids, Hopper agreed. He was planning to meet with Dr. Owens in a week anyway, and he was hopeful for what he'd have to say about El staying in the cabin any longer...

As soon as El received confirmation she could go, Mike went to work. He borrowed a camera from his mom, and went to visit the corn maze that morning. Outside there was a map of the interior tacked up on a bulletin board. Mike took a picture of it and spent every day since looking at it, studying it, memorizing it, determined to win the contest. 

Take the first right turn, then take the third left turn, then an immediate right, then the second right, and then-

Mike knew what he was doing. He had the whole thing figured out. He was going to win this contest for him and El. (And yeah, he may have bragged about it to their friends a bit. Just a bit. He was only being somewhat arrogant.) 

Except it had only taken roughly five minutes into the maze for all that to bite him in the ass.

It started with just a quick peek at El. Who could blame him? Mike hadn't seen her in almost a year. She'd been back for a few weeks now, but he still hadn't fully adjusted to the fact that she was really home. Mike found himself stealing glances at her way more often than he'd like to admit, but he couldn't help it. She was like a magnet that unknowingly was always pulling Mike's eyes towards her, and once his gaze was fixed on her face, Mike had a hard time pulling away, and a harder time focusing on anything besides how absolutely beautiful and kind and brave and smart she was, along with all the other adjectives that coursed through Mike's brain every time he tried to wrap his mind around just how amazing she was. There wasn't a lot of focus left for him to concentrate on anything besides El, such as keeping track of where they were in that damn corn maze.

They were walking down in silence. Through the hedges they could hear their friends somewhere close by, and El was kicking a pebble along while she walked. Mike, of course, was just watching her when they came to a fork in the path, either keep going straight or turn right. Instinctively, Mike went to turn, but then stopped for a moment. Was this the second right or the third? And wait, had they even taken the turn left yet like they were supposed to? 

He stopped in his tracks. _Shit._ After all he had bragged to his friends about knowing the maze like the back of his hand, all it had taken was a few minutes of getting lost in El's eyes for Mike to get lost in the world around him as well. 

“Mike?” El’s voice interrupted his thoughts before he could beat himself up too much, “Which way?”

Mike grimaced. How was he supposed to admit to El that he had gotten them lost because he was too distracted staring at her? They'd been hanging out at the cabin every day for the past few weeks, and Mike _swore_ there were a couple times they absolutely would have kissed if Hopper hadn't walked in. He was even planning on asking her to the Snow Ball in a few weeks, but a few weeks felt like a million years away. He wasn't ready to confess his feelings for her yet. 

Taking a gulp and looking down at his shoes, not wanting to meet her eyes, Mike flushed, “I think I kinda got a little distracted. I have no idea if we're supposed to turn here or not.”

“Okay.” El nodded her head, not understanding why Mike seemed so ashamed of this. It was just a corn maze after all, “Then let’s just go one way and if it's the wrong way eventually we’ll figure it out.”

She reached out to grab Mike’s hand, hesitating for a moment to contemplate locking their fingers together, wondering briefly if this was the right thing to do. They'd held hands dozens of times before, but for whatever reason El felt the butterflies in her stomach much more strongly today. 

_I'm thankful for you._

Hopper had told El how Thanksgiving was the day to tell the people in your life how thankful you are for them. And while El knew just how beyond grateful she was for the boy in front of her, something about the thought of telling him that sent bolts of fear throughout her body. It seemed silly to worry over such a small thing, but just thinking about expressing to Mike how thankful she was for everything he's done for her and every second she's spent with him, it made her cheeks flush to imagine. El wasn't sure if she just hadn't learned enough to words to describe her feelings, or if maybe the entirety of the English language didn't have the words to describe the way her heart seemed to burst with light whenever she was around him. 

El pulled her hand away right as their fingers were about to touch. She blushed and looked away from Mike, unsure what to do with her hands then, so she just gestured for him to follow her, then made the turn right while stuffing her hands into her pockets. 

They walked alongside each other for a while in silence. At one point Mike noticed El shivering and immediately began to take off his jacket to give it to her, but she shook her head, insisting she'd rather he stayed warm himself. Normally Mike would have argued that he could handle being cold and he wanted to make sure she was comfortable, but he knew there was no way he'd sway El’s decision. 

So the two continued walking in silence. Mike let El lead the way, preferring to stand back himself instead of directing where to go. It's not like he had any clue where to go anyway, he was the one who had gotten them lost to begin with. But then again, they'd just taken two left turns in a row, and now they were approaching a fork in the road, and Mike could swear he remembered this from his map. Could it be? The gears in his head began to turn while he tried to imagine the map he'd spent so much time studying. Could they somehow have gotten back on track? Mike didn't want to believe it was possible, but the path seemed strangely familiar even though he'd never seen it before in his life. 

“El, wait!” Eleven stopped in her tracks. She was about to turn right, aimlessly choosing whichever path her gut told her to, but she looked up to see Mike with a grin growing on his face. 

“I think I know where we are!” Mike ran forward, and on an impulse he grabbed El’s hand to tug her along to the left. His face immediately heated up when he realized how he was grasping onto her hand so tightly, but tried to ignore it. _Well I can't let go now, right? That would bring more attention to it? I just have to be casual about this._

He could feel his hands begin to sweat, but Mike did his best to remain casual and calm about it. He kept pulling El alongside him and eventually they were running hand and hand through the maze. El was laughing beside him and Mike could feel his heart beat twice as fast upon hearing the musical noise. 

They made another turn and they came across a large clearing in the maze. They'd made it to the center, Mike knew exactly how to reach the exit from here. 

He turned to El and began to laugh. This was all so stupid, it was just a corn maze after all. Winning wasn't important whatsoever. But in that moment relief flooded through his veins and all the frustration in his bones seemed to evaporate into the cool November air. 

El seemed to understand even if he hadn't said anything. Mike knew where they were now, they'd be out of this maze in no time. Before El knew what she was doing (or what Mike was doing, since they seemed to run into each other at the exact same time) she was jumping to envelop Mike in a crushing hug. His arms snaked around her waist as he lifted her up slightly, spinning her around in joy. 

El couldn't stop giggling at his glee. When he put her back on the ground, she was grinning widely staring at him. Their foreheads were pressed together, but then their laughter began to fade as the realization sunk in of just how close they were.

Mike's smile fell. He felt like he should pull away, though he really didn't want to, but El was so close to him and his heart was beating so fast and his cheeks were turning pink in a way that just illuminated all his freckles. 

“El-” He started, while El simultaneously went, “Mike.”

He nodded his head to tell her to go first, and she breathed in before continuing, “Happy Thanksgiving,” she started. She had already said that to him earlier that morning, but there were so many things left unspoken during that short greeting where all their friends were present. Her voice was small as she kept going, “I'm thankful for a lot of stuff this year, but most of all I'm thankful for you.” 

El gave him a shy smile, and Mike could feel his face heat up. 

“I'm thankful for you too,” He blushed. It was true, but it felt like a lie to say it out loud, because just saying he was thankful for her wasn't even close to full truth. She was the best thing to happen to Mike in so long. It felt so weird, how she could just come into his life and change absolutely everything, but it all felt so natural, and Mike could barely even remember what life felt like in the time before El. It didn't feel like that time could even be real. It was like he was just going through life in a hazy, frozen state, not even knowing he was waiting for this amazing girl to come in and open his eyes and make everything around him a little more vibrant. Everything always seemed to circle back to her. 

That thought terrified Mike. From the moment he met El it was like all the pieces in his life started to fall into place. Even if the world around him was in chaos, the idea of returning to normalcy seemed like the most abnormal thing possible if it meant El wasn't a part of it. She had changed his life in the most beautiful and fiery and passionate way. She had shown up and changed everything. It was like before he met her the world was in black and white, and El was the one who was able to bring colors to his life. The thought of going back to grey after experiencing all the colors El had shown him absolutely terrified Mike. 

She had made his life so bold and vivid, and every moment Mike spent with her, she was making him see all the beauty that resonated around them. It always traced back to her. Mike was beyond thankful for El. Just saying something as simple as “I'm thankful for you” felt like such a lie because it didn't even begin to convey just how strongly Mike was grateful for her and loved her and needed her, but he also didn't know where to start when it came to truly expressing his feelings. Simple statements like that would have to do for now. 

Maybe it was the telepathy, or maybe El was just insanely good at reading people (or maybe she was just good at reading Mike. She'd always been so observant and attentive around him, sometimes Mike felt like she could stare directly into his soul and know exactly what he was thinking) but Mike figured he didn't need to come up with a fancy description to express all those complicated feelings towards El. She knew exactly how he felt, and she couldn't put it into words any better than he could. They didn't need a lot of words to communicate their feelings between the two of them. A sappy romantic part of Mike wanted to credit that to the two of them just being two halves of the same soul, or some other cheesy cliche he'd heard on TV hundreds of times, but it didn't matter what the reason behind it was. All that mattered to them was just how perfectly in tune they were with each other, how they always knew what the other was feeling without needing fancy metaphors or declarations to share it. 

Mike’s heart was beating out of his chest, and he needed something to silent it. He began to lean down, his eyes like saucers as they slowly became closer and closer to El’s. Their faces were centimeters apart, just about to touch, when the sound of stomping on leaves broke the glass of the fragile moment. 

“Come on! I'm sure we're almost there!” A familiar voice came ringing through the air, and Mike and Eleven shot apart. 

Max and Lucas came trudging into the clearing of the maze, stopping when they saw their two friends right there. 

“What are you guys doing here?” Max walked over to them, sensing something suspicious about the way Mike’s face was turning pink. 

“What do you mean? We're doing the corn maze.”

Lucas rolled his eyes, “With how much you were bragging we figured you'd be done already.”

Mike and El didn't respond to that, not knowing exactly what they were supposed to say. It was quiet for a few moments until Max broke the silence. 

“Why are your faces all red?”

If their faces were red before, Mike figured his cheeks must be positively _on fire_ now that Max had pointed it out. “I don't know what you're talking about,” he stammered in response, then realized he was still holding onto El’s hand and dropped it like it could burn him. _Smooth, Wheeler._

Max and Lucas watched them for a second with raised eyebrows, then turned towards each other and exchanged a glance while holding back their laughs. “Yeah okay,” Lucas started, “Well the two of us are gonna get back to the race. We'd really like for you to be stuck paying for us at the arcade.” He said with a smirk, then Max grabbed his hand and pulled them back along to the maze.

Mike _could_ have warned them that they were going in the entirely wrong direction, but he elected not to. 

“Good luck with that!” He yelled after them, “El and I are still gonna win this!”

Max just yelled back “Sure!” before disappearing into the hedges with Lucas, and suddenly Mike and El were alone again. 

Mike turned to face El, his mind racing now that they were on their own. He wanted to rewind three minutes and bring them back to that moment where her lips were so close to his. He wanted to seal that distance and kiss her just like he'd wanted to kiss her every other time they'd gotten interrupted the last few weeks. 

El seemed to be having similar thoughts. She was biting down on her bottom lip trying to suppress a smile. Her hands reached out to lock with Mike’s, and lifted herself up on her toes to get closer to him. She still wasn't used to how much taller than her he was, but she wasn't complaining. 

Mike's forehead was resting against hers, and he swooped down to close the remaining distance between them. The kiss was light and sweet and it was over in a second, but the rush of euphoria that came immediately after it felt like it would last forever. They'd only ever kissed once before, but somehow the feeling of their lips pressed together felt so familiar and homey, it was as if they'd kissed thousands of times. 

_I'm thankful for you._

For roughly the hundredth time that day, Mike and El were both hit with that overwhelming gratefulness for just how lucky they were to have each other. Neither of them were particularly lucky people in every other aspect of their lives, but somehow they were lucky enough to find each other, and with that, all the bad stuff felt a little less overwhelming. Maybe even with all the bad stuff that happened to them, they were still lucky people, because if they weren't, then how the hell could they have possibly ever found each other?

Mike tightened his grip on El’s hands, and she began to rub her thumb over the back of his palm in a reassuring motion. With their hands laced together, it felt like the spaces between their fingers were built specifically for the other’s fingers to fit right in. 

They pressed their foreheads together for a few seconds in bliss before pulling away. Mike was smiling so wide he wasn't sure if he'd be able to form any words to speak, but he tried his best. 

He pulled El along to head back into the maze. They could finish this moment after they declared victory over their friends. 

“Come on, I know the way from here.”


End file.
